TianQi

I really want Aoey to just shut up, accept Mork and go. lol

To answer that second question: yes. I think it got resurrected mostly in South Korea first, but has now trickled down to Thailand.

As I said...the cinematography excelled more than everything else...That's not denying the effective acting..it was great, but the fact that each scene that was filmed in such a way that the actual scenes themselves were able to speak the words of the actors as they said them and even display the emotions the actors felt was really quite remarkable and well-polished. I haven't seen that well-done a lot in Thai gay/BL productions and that's what stood out for me.

Sorry, when I said "we", I meant "we", the people in China. Back then, this was the quality of BLs we had. We've come along way since then. So to write our whole country's attempt (despite being from different producers, directors etc.) as garbage and even worse to reduce China's attempts at (albeit censored) BL to THIS BL of all of them is...disingenuous, but yeah. This one was bad. No arguments there.

He had me at "sushi na muyaaaaaaang" <3

I found my special person and it does it happen, it just came off as weird that for the whole series, they show the issues 99% of us go through in our teenage years then end it with how like less that 1% end our teenage years. lol I mean, I'm glad anyone gets to be happy, but it just seemed out of place.

There's no faction of MDL users that grind my gears more than the "It IsN't TeChNiCalLy BL" people when they attempt to take down series like The Untamed.

China, theoretically, has the largest population of gay men in one country in the world. With the success of series like Guardian and The Untamed, I say we keep going until we see more progress. Giving up is stupid.

Well, this was four years ago and was a very low budget attempt, but since we only have the option to turn BL novels into bromance, I think we've been doing a pretty damned good job of conveying BL love despite not being able to show physical affection since Addicted. See: Men With Sword, Love Is More Than a Word, Till Death Tear Us Apart, Guardian, The Untamed, Winter Begonia, and Word of Honor. We do what we can with what we have.

In short: gay people still exist in China. That's why we still try to make BLs.

Agreed about everything until the end. That ending was not relatable. Consciously gay people, like me and Ou, don't end up with our childhood/school crush/first experience/boyfriend. We end up rejected and going through university/life with the trauma of that. It's nice that they had a happy ending, but that was honestly the least believable part of the whole thing.

I agree with you. First of all, the whole drama is very reminiscent of early 2000s angsty, indie gay movies. Second, Ou was indeed treated as a doormat and as you mentioned, coupled with Teh's inexcusable behaviour (aside from the college entrance thing), it took me out of it. Also, I wasn't totally satisfied with the end. Everything seemed very realistic up until that point.

I only wanted the best things in life for Bas too.

About ITSAY, I agree. To me, the cinematography was the star of that series. Neither the story nor the acting superseded just how well-filmed and directed it all was.

I don't even see the subs on Youku at all. :( I don't know how to turn them on and they don't show automatically.

I don't see it at all. lol I'm using the Youku website on my laptop. I don't see anything on the top bar with a button or something to change the language. :'(

On the Youkou website itself or Youtube?? Because I'm only seeing it with subtitles available on Youtube, but only until like ep 17.

Great article. I met my current boyfriend in Taipei where he was living at the time and we visited Longshan Temple together on one outing. While I paid my respects to the goddess Mazu (patron of the sea) whom I have a special fondness for, my boyfriend (who was then just a friend) prayed to Yue Lao (matchmaker god) that I would be his bf (I didn't know this until after we started dating). We went over a year without dating or living near each other (as I live in Beijing). I became curious and attracted by a goddess I saw in a temple here. I was told she was called Huxian Niang Niang (fairy fox queen) and she helps lovers. I gave it a shot and within two months, he'd made the decision to move to Beijing. Two years later, we're still here and happy. ^_^ I didn't learn much of Tu'Er Shen until later, but next time I'm in Taipei, I'd like to visit his temple too, just because it's the only one in existence this century.

Of the two things you mentioned in the first half of the post, I'm saying the second one. We're working with what we've got, not because it's OK, but because we have to. The government under the last four years or so has cracked down on a lot of things it sees as foreign or detrimental to society. This includes but isn't limited to visibility of religious institutions and the LGBTQ people in the media. As far as LGBT people in media, though. It's not that they're not there, nor is it that the general public don't know these actors, hosts, and other celebrities are LGBT, it's that the notion of 'LGBT rights' which can't be shown. Romance can't be shown. It's like what I imagine the West was during the early 80s or so, if history serves me correctly.

This may be a dumb question, but how do I turn the subtitles on for youku? lol I'm trying to watch it along with someone who doesn't speak Chinese.

I think this is definitely a good point of consideration for people outside of China to take, but for LGBT people in China, I'd say this consideration should be looked at with more scrutiny before writing it off (completely) as collusion with oppression of the LGBT community here (China). Some things to consider: the books these shows are based off of in the first place aren't banned in China. Depictions of LGBT people in the media are limited, but not banned. There are other, small scale productions fully depicting romance among LGBT people. Honey Sir which was produced last year is a good example. It all depends on the media company releasing it. All of these shows like this one, Guardian, The Untamed, Winter Begonia, currently Word of Honor and the no fewer than four other "BL turned bromance" productions that are due to release later this year are only gaining momentum in their popularity and it's no secret to the audience that watches these shows what they're about. Not just because the fanbase is already familiar, but because the language and cultural references used in this show which don't always translate well for people who don't speak Chinese or know the culture/history. They've made BL popular and people are not only starting to read more BL novels, but also learn more about the lives of the LGBT people here. It should also be noted that many gay media produced outside China isn't banned in China. Last year, 2Gether and I Told Sunset About You were huge hits here.

So, yeah, on one hand, the censorship is f*cked up. I speak from firsthand experience about that, but we still need to carry on here in the way that we can while slowly push the society to continue to open up.